Paul and others, if you are unaware of Amy M. Tyson's The Wages of History: Emotional Labor on Public History's Front Lines, you might want to check it out. My review appeared in The Public Historian, Feb. 2014.


Ken Yellis
21 Gibbs Lane, Portsmouth, RI 02871
(401) 619-4524 • Cell: (401) 662-7769
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-----Original Message-----
From: Paul C. Thistle <[log in to unmask]>
To: MUSEUM-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Nov 21, 2018 9:13 pm
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Must We Accept Exploitative Working Conditions in Museums?

Dear colleagues: [indulgence coveted for cross-posting]


Given recent news about complaints concerning the quality of working lives at Plimoth Plantation living history reconstruction site in Plymouth, MA, museum practitioners need to think seriously about the “overwork” being expected of them in relation to the resources available to carry out the expectations of all concerned.


In some ways, says Dawn Butkowsky, an interpreter and 25-year employee of the plantation, the museum has used employees’ love for the museum against them.


The most recent Solving Task Saturation for Museum Workers blog post applies the sociology of work & a Canadian M.D.’s book, Is Work Killing You? A Doctor’s Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress, to the problems identified.


See the 20 November 2018 post “Overwork Alleged at Plimoth Plantation” at https://solvetasksaturation.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/overwork-alleged-at-plimoth-plantation/ .


Respectfully yours


Paul C. Thistle


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